Odd

How do you screw up a floor mat?

Toyota Motor Corp said it will recall some 3.8 million vehicles in the United States because of the risk that a loose floormat could force down the accelerator, a problem suspected of causing crashes that have killed five people.

I'm not being smarmy here, I'm genuinely curious how this supposedly works. The article says the problem has led to 17 crashes and five deaths. Four of those deaths it appears, occurred last month in California in a curious incident:

Last month, an off-duty California state trooper and three members of his family were killed in the San Diego area in a crash of a 2009 Lexus ES350.

Before the crash, a passenger in the car had called 911 and told dispatchers that the accelerator was stuck and the car had reached 120 miles per hour (193 km per hour).

I can imagine even a highly trained driver being taken by surprise and not having the immediate presence of mind to shift into neutral and turn off the car. But not recovering in the time it took for a passenger to call and speak to 911?  Was it a rental car and the driver was not familiar with it?

The article does go on to say that on that particular model:

Federal investigators also found many owners were not aware that it takes three seconds to turn off the electronic ignition button that comes standard on that model and the Prius.

Many owners also complained that it was not obvious how to put a runaway vehicle in neutral because of the design of the Toyota gear panel.

Really? Don't the owners turn the car on and off all of the time? How can owners not be aware of how long it takes to turn their car off? And the gear panel of the ES350 is so odd that it's hard to put in neutral? I've seen some odd gear configurations over the years, but neutral? 

Others are speculating that there is another cause that has not been identified yet. I'm not going to speculate, just note that this is another one of those stories that seems to leave one with more questions than answers. The whole thing is odd.